Look carefully before you leap. Some things a potential new DSLR buyer should know about Pentax are...

you'll have no full-frame upgrade path.

And then, the solution:

If I didn't have so much invested in K-mount gear right now, Micro Four-Thirds is where I'd want to be. MFT gear doesn't fully take the place of a good DSLR kit in some situations but it is easy to use in ways and places that DSLR gear often isn't.

MFT being locked in an even smaller format than APS-C (OTOH Pentax is actually working on a FF camera, even though it's nowhere near).

Choose wisely how you spend your money for the long-term by having a lens roadmap planned out in advance. If the camera system you're contemplating doesn't provide an attractive future roadmap for lens purchases, best to either wait or look elsewhere.

Okay, you got me on that one, Alex. BUT if one is buying and carrying lenses that are of a size to fit a full-frame camera, it would be nice to have the option to go that route. The low-light capabilities of full-frame sensors are amazing and getting cheaper each year while Canon, Nikon and Sony DO provide that option. How many current Pentax digital lenses even cover a full-frame image circle without heavy vignetting? I'm asking - I don't honestly know.

Yet if one is to give up on ever having a full-frame upgrade path, might there be some benefit in smaller, lighter lenses optimized for sensor-based AF? For me, the answer is most definitely yes though the trade-offs aren't to everyone's choosing. Just something to consider, especially given the potential of Canon's new PDAF-on-sensor technology. It's no longer a given that mirrorless cameras will never AF and track as well as a SLR or SLT camera.

As for a Pentax full-frame camera, I'll believe it when I see it (or at least see new lenses on the Pentax roadmap designed for a full-frame image circle). I find it hard to believe that Pentax's tiny market share would make sales volumes of a $2,000 full-frame camera profitable. Anyway, first Pentax has to produce an AF sensor that performs above the level of it's rival's entry-level cameras, no?